Longmont voters will be asked to extend street tax

City Council unanimously approves placing tax on November ballot

Longmont voters in November will be asked to extend a three-quarter-cent sales tax to fund its street maintenance and improvement programs.

The sales and use tax was first put into effect by voters in 1986 and has been extended the previous five times it has come up for a vote, most recently in the 2009 election, when it was approved by 62 percent of the voters at the height of the Great Recession.

"Basically any improvements that have been made to the city's streets since 1986 has been paid for by this," Nick Wolfrum, the city's engineering services manager, told the Longmont City Council Tuesday night at its regular session meeting.

He said that out of Longmont's sales tax of 3.275 percent, 0.75 cents goes to the street fund, a figure that is near the lowest in comparison with surrounding Front Range communities.

The money goes for everything from signal lights to lane markings to bicycle lanes to pedestrian improvements and school crossings, Wolfrum said.

"The fund this tax generates is critical to the city," he said.

The only difference in the extension the city will ask for this year is it's a 10-year extension instead of a 5-year one. That will will allow for longer-term planning by city staff as it works to coordinate future plans with other entities such as the Colorado Department of Transportation, Wolfrum said.

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Councilman Gabe Santos has been one of those in favor of making it a 10-year extension, and he said it will not only allow for longer-term planning but also for planning better projects.

Councilwoman Sarah Levison applauded the work of sidewalks being put in along what had been a dangerous stretch of Ninth Avenue, and she noted that this tax is what helps fund projects like that.

"I do like to see those signs that have already started popping up," Levison said, referring to city signs noting where street improvements are being made.

The current street tax expires Dec. 31, 2016, so if voters approve the extension it will keep it in place through the end of 2026.

In other business, the Longmont City Council, acting as the Longmont Urban Renewal Authority, voted to allocate $250,000 of the money it is contributing to the redevelopment of Twin Peaks Mall into Village at the Peaks to fund the hiring of a consulting firm that will act as the city's "eyes and ears" on the redevelopment.

"It is a selection of a firm, rather than an individual," Wolfrum said. "We thought that was the most cost-effective way to manage this project."

Acting as the "owner's rep," as city finance director Jim Golden put it to the council, the firm will be responsible for things such as making sure no corners are cut on construction, that permits go through city process as required and that timetables are adhered to.

The quarter million dollars had already been included in the city's portion of the nearly $90 million redevelopment, but it not been formally allocated for this purpose until Tuesday night's vote.

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